Sustainable Procurement. Why should you care about it? Because more and more of your organisation’s customers and key stakeholders care about things like minimising waste, impact on society, the environment, etc. Organisations that ignore these concerns wilfully expose their brands to the risk of irreparable damage.
Sustainable procurement is about “doing the right thing”. It’s therefore also vital to minimise the risk of bad things happening. I am talking about events that could undermine your organisation’s overall mission.
And while “doing the right thing” should, in itself, be a good enough reason for launching and managing a Sustainable Procurement programme, there are some significant “traditional” business benefits too. These include cost savings, risk reduction, brand and reputation protection, as well as new value creation opportunities.
To get a Sustainable Procurement programme off the ground, you first need to build a business case for it to convince your leadership team.
I recently came across a brief article that tells you how to do exactly that. It’s published on the GreenBiz website, which features content on business, technology and sustainability.
The article is called 5 steps to build the business case for sustainable purchasing and does what it says on the tin. The author, David McClintock talks about:
- Quantifying your business case.
- Using peer pressure, aka benchmarking, to help convince.
- Highlighting supply chain risks by providing past examples from either inside or outside the organisation.
- Considering the importance customers (or donors in the Third Sector) place on sustainability.
- Getting champions within your organisation to help launch the Sustainable Procurement programme.
Finally, McClintock makes the point that a sense of urgency needs to be created to get the programme started. Sustainability is a very strategic topic, so organisations focused on the short term may be tempted to put it off.
If sustainability is high on your agenda, “5 steps to build the business case for sustainable procurement” is well worth a read.
Armand Brevig is the Managing Director of Procurement Cube. We have created an effective and lean Procurement product that unlocks hidden business value for SMEs. It’s a Procurement Powerhouse inside your organisation that delivers Value for Money, Total Cost Control and Enhanced Competitiveness. The approach builds fit for purpose capabilities that deliver sustainable strategic value. The focus is on what really matters in your unique situation.
